Sunday, 23 March 2025

Week 12 - Birding By Bike - Scotland Big Year

Week 12

19 – 25 March 2025

During my big year, I will update my blog most weeks. This is the twelfth week's recap. The number next to the day indicates my year list at the end of that day. Birds written in italics indicate year ticks.

March 23 - Day 81: 134

This weekend, since our car was due its MOT, we had to stay local. With Saturday being such a miserable and rainy day, we stayed at home, mostly. On Sunday, however, we managed to get out and cycled up to Seaton Park in search of Dippers. After arriving, we saw a couple of hybrid Carrion x Hooded Crows among the Carrion Crows and Jackdaws. As we walked up river, towards Persley, we saw a drake Goldeneye and a Black-headed gull, as well as a singing Chiffchaff, announcing the arrival of warmer temperatures. As we cycled along the River Don, we saw a pair of Stock doves in the trees, along with a pair of Goldeneye and a male Goosander. Further down river, we heard a Greenfinch and several Wrens and counted as many as 14 Black-headed Gulls, feeding on the river. As we cycled, we noticed a Grey Wagtail waging its tail on a fallen branch in the river accompanied by more Goosanders. Approaching Persley Castle and Walled Garden, we got excited by some Dipper droppings on a rock. Sure enough, within a few minutes a Dipper flew past us, calling loudly. #134! We stopped by the bank of the Don, for a short rest, seeing another Grey Wagtail and 3 Stock Doves, flying around. We were amazed by the number of vocalizing Chiffchaffs. On the way back home, we decided to stop at the "Granny's Kitchen, for a well-deserved lunch. My sisters and I had delicious ham & cheese paninis and my dad had a chicken one, along with the soup of the day, to warm up. Unfortunately, my mum was busy working, so she could not join us on this adventure. While racing through Westburn Park, I noticed that the burn had a pair of Mallards on it, my first time seeing them here.

Ps. Congratulations to my sisters (especially Klara) for cycling on many of the busy roads and up several hills.

Day 81: https://ebird.org/checklist/S220237616

Tuesday, 18 March 2025

Week 11 - Scottish Birdwatchers’ Conference - Scotland Big Year

Week 11

12 – 18 March 2025

During my big year, I will update my blog most weeks. This is the tenth week's recap. This weekend I will be in Inverness, at the Scottish Birdwatchers' Conference with my friend Felix. The number next to the day indicates my year list at the end of that day. Birds written in italics indicate year ticks.

March 15 - Day 74: 130

Today, I woke up at quarter to six, got dressed and in the car, with the Satnav set to Inverness. When we arrived, at 8:40, we were in fact some of the first to arrive for the day’s talks. After a little while, my family left and went to explore Inverness, while I started to chat to many of the people at the stalls. At 9:30, Felix and I sat down for the first presentations of the day. After several interesting talks, Felix and I went out to the car park to try to get some early Chiffchaffs for our year lists. Unfortunately, we didn't see much apart from a Hooded Crow between the many Carrion Crows. We settled back and heard from some other young birders, and we even got to say a few words about the Spurn competition we did last September! At lunch, we stuffed ourselves with fruits and chicken. After eating, we went on to take as many of the free, second-hand books as well as a leaflet from each stall. We were given information on a pair of Slavonian Grebes at a nearby loch in breeding plumage. With Felix having never seen them in breeding plumage and me happy about the possibility of a year tick, we managed to convince our parents to go after the end of the talks. As the talks came to a close, we made our way to the exit and to RSPB Loch Ruthven.

Less than half an hour later, we were walking down to the hide at the RSPB's Loch Ruthven reserve. As we passed a small group of birch trees, we heard a calling Chiffchaff, a sure sign of spring. Within another 2 minutes, Felix had spotted two birds on the lake, which were, in fact, Slavonian Grebes. Despite being at a distance, the plumage and behaviour was undeniable. #130! We had to get back quickly, in order to arrive on time to our Italian dinner, which we reserved.

At the restaurant, I devoured the largest pizza I had ever seen. Just then, we got a message from the other finalist from the Spurn competition last year, Milo. He had just see 3 Goshawks, 3 Hawfinches, woodlark, 2 Firecrests, 2 Stone curlews, 3 Cattle egrets and a Marsh tit. Felix and I decided that we needed to get Snow bunting and Crested tit on the outings to Strathspey the day after, to make him jealous.

March 16 - Day 75: 133

Today I woke up, only slightly later than on Saturday, at 6:40. I made the most of this time and looked out the window to see what I could see. It turned out that the trees were full of birdlife. I saw a Goldcrest, Blue tits and Great tits, a Blackbird, another calling Chiffchaff, some Chaffinches, and a Bullfinch.

We met up with Felix, after packing out of our room. Our first stop would be Abernethy woods, at Nethy Bridge. Here, we met up with the other birders and made our way to the feeders. While we waited, he heard a Mistle Thrush, a drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers, and a Goldcrest. The feeders were also attracting many birds, mainly Blue tits, Great tits and Coal tits as well as a male Siskin. Eventually, we heard the distinctive call of the Crested tit as it approached the feeders, unfortunately, I was the only one of the group to see it and its diagnostic crest and facial pattern. We waited a bit longer, but the bird didn't come back, so I didn't manage to get any photos.

Our next stop was the Cairn Gorm car park, for Snow Bunting. As soon as I got out of the car, I saw the large flock of Snow Buntings flying around the upper car park. A lifer and #132! I managed to get several really close shots of the birds as they fed on the seeds we had put out for them, before having to run from the rain to protect my gear. After the rain eased down, and my gear and I dry, we went out again to get some more pictures. Eventually, both Felix and I had to have a break and some warm drinks at the café. Before long, the others left to RSPB Insh Marshes, so we said goodbye to them, since we could not make it. We stayed about 10 minutes longer at Cairn Gorm, getting EVEN closer to some of the Snow Buntings. We pulled ourselves away from the buntings and got in the car, deciding that we would stop at Fyvie Castle on the way back for the Mandarin Ducks.

After about two hours' drive, we arrived at Fyvie castle. We soon saw many Mallards and a few Tufted Ducks but no Mandarins. As we walked around the lake, we heard some singing Chiffchaffs and Song thrushes. We noted that many of the passerines here, such as Blue tits, Great tits, Coal tits, Chaffinches, Robins, and Dunnocks were very tame, so we got many great photographs. We walked down to the very south side, and back up, seeing more of the same birds as well as a pair of Mute Swans, Little Grebes and two Greylag Geese. We walked back, slightly disappointed, although the sight of a Treecreeper lifted our spirits. Just as we were leaving, my dad looked back towards the lake and saw a weird orange bird under some hanging trees in the water. Mandarin Ducks! As they approached us, looking for something to eat, we got spectacular photos of both the pairs.

Day 74 + 75: https://ebird.org/tripreport/341771

Snow Bunting (1st Winter)

Road up to Cairn Gorm

Chaffinch at Cairn Gorm

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting flock

Snow Bunting

Robin at Fyvie

Blue tit

Dunnock

Great tit

Female Chaffinch

Tufted Duck

Coal Tit

Spot the Chiffchaff!

Male Mandarin Duck

Mandarin Duck Pair

Mandarin Duck

Male Chaffinch

Mandarin Duck resting

Female Mandarin Duck with a female Mallard

Thursday, 13 March 2025

Week 10 - Scotland Big Year

Week 10

5 – 11 March 2025

During my big year, I will update my blog most weeks. This is the tenth week's recap. Next weekend, I will be in Inverness, at the Scottish Birdwatchers' Conference with my friend Felix. Sadly, this week was extremely uneventful birdwise, and therefore, it took quite some motivation to write this up, so there is a slight delay. The number next to the day indicates my year list at the end of that day. Birds written in italics indicate year ticks.

March 8 - Day 67: 126

Today, my dad and I went to the north of Aberdeenshire, to see what was still about. When we arrived at St. Mary's Chapel, we were amazed by the many singing Skylarks and the now regular Pochards on the loch. Among the Pochards were 2 drake Pintails and of course the Goldeneyes and Tufted ducks.

We soon moved on to the visitor centre. We were greeted by many birds singing, such as Chaffinches. We met David Gill, a local birder, and had an interesting chat but didn't see much birdwise apart from some Gadwall.

After a report of a juvenile Glaucous Gull at Cairnbulg, we moved on to the small fishing village. Unfortunately, apart from some Rock Pipits and several Redshanks, we didn't see much.

We decided to stop at Phingask bay before heading back, to check for any "White-winged" gulls. Unfortunately, after a thorough scan, all the gulls turned out to be Herring gulls.

On the way back to Aberdeen, we stopped at the Tarty burn, across from Waterside Bridge in Newburgh, to meet up with Raymond. Apart from many Shelduck, Wigeon and Redshanks, there was a flock of Pink-footed geese, going to roost.

Monday, March 10th, marked the end of our first weekend of 2025 with zero year ticks.

Oystercatcher, St Mary's Chapel

Oystercatcher

Rock Pipit, Cairnbulg

Group of Redshanks at Phingask Bay

Shelducks

Curlew

Young Cormorant

Sunday, 2 March 2025

Week 9 - Scotland Big Year

Week 9

26 February – 4 March 2025

During my big year, I will update my blog most weeks. This is the ninth week's recap. As we enter March, the first signs of spring are starting to appear: Crocuses are flowering, woodpeckers and drumming and songbirds and singing. The number next to the day indicates my year list at the end of that day. Birds written in italics indicate year ticks.

March 1 - Day 60: 126

Today, we planned to meet my friend Felix, who I had met at the MGSYB competition in September 2024. We decided to meet at Loch Leven, since I was missing some birds from there. We went to karate, only to discover that it had been cancelled today, so we had more time to get to Loch Leven. After two hours' drive, we arrived in Kinross, where we got some pastries from the local Sainsbury's. We drove the final few minutes to the RSPB visitor centre, where we had some drinks at the café. As I was scanning from the window, I noted a Lesser black-backed gull on the loch, a year tick. I also spotted a couple of majestic Great Crested Grebes, although in their winter plumage. Before long, Felix and his dad arrived, and we stared walking towards the first hide. At the hide, we saw 3 Great white egrets and many Tufted Ducks, Goldeneye, Mallards and a few Gadwalls, too. At the second hide, we saw much the same species, as well as some Teal and a large herd of cows sitting in front of us. We walked back towards the visitor centre and towards the River Leven. On the way, we got confused when a Chaffinch started making weird calls. Eventually we headed back to the visitor centre to go to Leven in Fife, since lots of rarities had been seen there the day before.

Upon arriving at Leven, we walked along the Promenade towards Leven Stakepark. Along the way we scanned the Firth of Forth, seeing many Long-tailed ducks, Red-breasted Mergansers and Eiders. It didn't take long before Felix spotted a flock of Velvet Scoters. A lifer as well as a year tick! We walked to the stake park where we kept scanning, finding some Razorbills and more Long-tailed Ducks. While we were birding, my sisters were playing table tennis nearby, so Felix and I had to give it a go. It would be fair to say that Felix won, because I got distracted by some Pied Wagtails flying overhead! We walked back south in case the previously reported White-winged and Surf scoters had moved down the river forth. As we approached where our cars were parked, a HUGE flock of Velvet and Common Scoters flew north past us. We estimated at least 1000 birds in total. Despite our best efforts, desperately scanning for the Surf and White-winged scoters, we did not succeed. We said goodbye to Felix and his dad, but we will be seeing each other again in Inverness in 2 weeks at the Scottish Birdwatcher's Conference.

March 2 - Day 61: 128

This morning, news came out of a drake Lesser and Greater Scaup at Loch of Skene, so our plans were already set. My dad and I arrived after breakfast, at about 10am. We met Mark Sullivan and his wife and had a nice chat. As I scanned, I found a tufted duck-like bird with a pale back. It turned out to be the Greater Scaup; a lifer! Soon, another local birder, Craig, arrived. Mark decided to show us the way to the Temple, on the south side of the lake. Craig had to head back since he had forgotten his boots, so my dad and I headed out alone. We got to the Temple hearing Great spotted woodpeckers drumming, a sign of spring. As we scanned the lake, we found a flock of Tufted ducks, with them a bird with a pale back. We eventually decided that, along with the smaller size, it was indeed the Lesser Scaup; my third lifer for the weekend and second for the day! We drove over to the west side with Craig in our wake. Together, we walked along the west side, only to discover that some boaters had flushed all the ducks. We gave it our last try at the east side car park, where we started. Upon arriving, we got a message on ABZ rare birds that the bird was back at the Temple. We looked in that direction and got the Lesser Scaup, although it went out of sight before we could get a photo.

Day 60: https://ebird.org/tripreport/337107

Day 61: https://ebird.org/checklist/S216221471